What’s the best solution to sharply rising childcare prices across America?

"I am a Director of a childcare center and have a direct view of the child care cost crisis. I cannot emphasize this enough, it is a very delicate balance between three main factors: classroom ratios - tuition costs - teacher pay. Our teachers are people with families as well, so we have to ensure they are paid enough to be able to live. Without being too dramatic, they are ensuring the safety and proper development of our littlest generation. Absolutely no one is getting rich from working in childcare, unfortunately (this does include many members of higher management as well). Many times, the income from tuition is used to cover anywhere from 50%-70% percent in just teacher pay. With the amount of teachers needed to safely complete the ratios, this is about the average for most centers. The other income is then used to cover expenses like rent, curriculum materials, and food, just allowing the month to break even. However, increasing ratios is simply not a solution. We need quality early education in the US, starting at infancy, and with a ratio of one teacher to 6+ infants and beyond, meeting the individual cognitive needs of each child, let alone physical, is draining and unsustainable. Early Education should be partially government funded and/or subsidized by employers."

• "If you are a not for profit organization getting the tax breaks that a NFP gets, you are vaguely required to put some of that margin money to use for the betterment of your community.That tax break money could be used for subsidizing child care for your employees. On the flip side, a good for profit organization will do the same. Not free, just some help."

"It is a supply and demand issue. Good childcare is invaluable and teachers deserve to be paid their worth. It's a critical need for families. The issue is that incomes have not kept up with the rising costs of daycare, housing, healthcare costs and the other essential costs of living. The living wage needed today is way higher than the average income. Enabling better paying jobs via reasonable tuition rates (so people are not saddled with high interest debt) and additional workplace training relevant to the next wave of jobs is critical. Having a more stable economy to keep jobs growing, inflation at bay and interest rates lower is also essential and people do not like uncertainty. This requires stable leadership, and this missing in the US today."

• "Take government intervention out. Continue with background checks and licensing but take out all the other costs. If people want to pay for more 1:1 childcare they can make that choice and pay more. In the 80s my daycare center made sure we were safe, had food, and kept us in line. We turned out just fine and actually learned some social skills not having an adult to hover over us and solve all our problems."

"Ideally, we could completely overhaul how we perceive “childcare.” In a perfect world, individuals would be some of the highest paid, most education, and deeply respected members of society. Childcare would be publicly funded, and all children would have access. I say that as someone who is typically skeptical of government overreach, but who realizes that all of society benefits from a populace of educated young people with healthy attachment and self-esteem. Rather than a system where some children attend highly sought-after preschools that have waiting lists long than some organ transplants and cost more than my mortgage and where other children attend state-funded preschools that have to ask for donations for tissue, all children would be considered equal under this system. It would be expensive, no doubt, but it would likely lead to far less costs in battling drug addition, homelessness, and crime years down the road."

• "Have one parent stay home and cut back on expenses. My wife put her career on hold (only because I had better benefits at the time). We scrimped and saved to make ends meet on one salary but weren't that far behind if we had to pay for childcare. Plus, our kids had a much better environment to grow up in. Later, when the kids went to school, my wife kick-started her career again and we were able to enjoy things we'd skipped for years. It wasn't easy but we have no regrets about our decision."

"Although I understand and generally support the thought that childcare is an essential need like education and transportation, I'm very hesitant to say government involvement would solve the issue. I think the solution lies in subsidies for working parents and/or encouraging companies to either sponsor or stand up their own childcare for employees. One of the biggest issues I had finding child care was finding a person or place I could trust, and after a couple of negative experiences, we make the sacrifice and pay a TON of money because it has been worth the peace of mind for the past few years. My employer is a mid-sized family owned business and the leadership has talked about using the extra space in our building to have an on-site daycare for employees. My kids are starting to age out of needing it, but that would have been an immense weight off my shoulders knowing I had access to and a strong relationship with the people taking care of my children, and I know that would be a game-changer for a lot of other moms too."

• "It's a more holistic approach, but probably a mix of increasing multigenerational homes and families, the growth of nannying as an industry, increased tax breaks associated to children (not subsidies), and an increase in remote work opportunities would address a lot of these concerns. There's no one size fits all solution. I'd stay away from government funding because we're now seeing exactly how that can be weaponized, leveraged, and withheld to promote government interests, but otherwise? We need to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks."

"As with anything, there is no "one size fits all" solution. And just as schools/education is being moved away from federal control to state, I think childcare issues belong on the local/regional agenda. One of the possible solutions is to raise the number of children that in-home caretakers can have. I was fortunate enough to have access to such a situation, but only on Wednesdays-Fridays because another family required childcare on Mondays and Tuesdays. That number should be decided depending on the area: an area with mostly apartments cannot provide the adequate space for active children as well as an area with mostly houses. A more complex determination could be number of children per square foot of available space, but that would require yet another study in a system that already "studies" too much."

• "The danger with market driven solutions for child care is that some kids will be in unhealthy or unsafe situations during critical years in their brain and emotional development. This COSTS society in higher costs in education, medical care, mental health care, welfare, and the loss of that child’s productivity. For every dollar spent on early childhood education (birth to 5) creates a return or savings of $7 to the public (that stat is several years old-it’s probably a higher return now). Government is simply the tool we can use as a collective society to build the kind of society we want. Using the power of the government to support quality childcare is a benefit to all-those who benefit directly AND those who live in a society where all people are as healthy and productive as they can be. It makes good sense financially and morally."